771025 - Conversation A - Vrndavana

Conversations by Date, 1977

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

771025R1-VRNDAVAN - October 25, 1977 - 29:51 Minutes

Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda? A nice vegetable broth Ātreya Ṛṣi prepared for you. (indistinct background comments) (break)

Prabhupāda: . . . (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You can what, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: I can sit up. (break) (devotees chanting japa) Bhavānanda, you can take little oil and . . .

Bhavānanda: Yes. (devotees chant japa) (break) Śrīla Prabhupāda? Śatadhanya Mahārāja has come.

Śatadhanya: I have brought the makara-dhvaja from the kavirāja in Delhi. This kavirāja, he's not Rāmānuja-sampradāya, but many people say in Delhi that he's the foremost kavirāja in India. He treats the Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, and all the ministers also. So many people trusted him, and he mixed this medicine . . . he was mixing it for some other person, but when he heard that you were ill, he gave it to us.

Bhavānanda: What kind of makara-dhvaja?

Śatadhanya: There's different kinds of makara-dhvaja, six kinds. This is the most potent kind. This is called siddha makara-dhvaja. And this contains gold and pearl and musk and mica and many other ingredients.

Bhavānanda: And what are the other ingredients you have to take it with?

Śatadhanya: You can take it with either honey or milk. But he recommended that for Prabhupāda's particular condition he take it with honey.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. What did he charge?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What did he charge?

Śatadhanya: Nothing. We got it for free, because we got it through one influential man named Chanda Swami.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, Chanda Swami. That's that person Ādi-keśa was always working with.

Śatadhanya: And so the kavirāja said . . .

Prabhupāda: That means he's honest. That's all right.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You met Chanda Swami?

Śatadhanya: No, he's in Madras. This is forty-eight doses, two doses a day. That means this is twenty-four days' medicine makara-dhvaja. Two doses per day.

Prabhupāda: So do it carefully. Tamāla?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: You take care.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right. I'll keep it locked up.

Prabhupāda: They charged nothing. Then he is honest.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Did he say what the charge would normally have been?

Śatadhanya: No.

Bhavānanda: Did he say anything about . . .

Śatadhanya: But he did say that what the other kavirājas said about dosage was very wrong, and that if that dose was taken it would have been detrimental.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which dose?

Śatadhanya: One tolā.

Bhavānanda: That one tolā.

Śatadhanya: He said that's not sane.

Bhavānanda: Did he say anything about length of time involved for the efficacy of the medicine?

Śatadhanya: No. He just said this isn't one of . . . it's very powerful medicine.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What time should it be taken? Morning and night?

Śatadhanya: Morning and evening.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Any particular time in the morning?

Śatadhanya: No.

Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you like to take some now?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not? Huh? Tamāla?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Simply with honey.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is it in the form of powder?

Śatadhanya: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So it's mixed . . .

Śatadhanya: It's already mixed and separated into separate doses.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And it's put in a spoon of honey?

Śatadhanya: Yes. It's mixed with honey.

Bhavānanda: About ten drops of honey.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's already with honey?

Śatadhanya: No, you have to mix it with honey.

Bhavānanda: How much honey?

Śatadhanya: He said just some honey.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just so it becomes palatable.

Bhavānanda: So Bhakti-caru Mahārāja will take charge of mixing that?

Prabhupāda: Where he is?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhakti-caru? He's here.

Prabhupāda: Shob shunte paccho? (You can hear everything?)

Bhakti-caru: Ha Śrīla Prabhupāda. (Yes Śrīla Prabhupāda.)

Prabhupāda: Thik ache. (Okay.)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'll keep it locked in the almirah, and I will give one dose at a time to Bhakti-caru.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And he will mix it with honey and give to you.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhavānanda: Very good. So let's mix a little . . .

Prabhupāda: What is date today?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Today is the 25th. It's an inauspicious day. So it's the proper day to begin taking it.

Prabhupāda: So let us begin tomorrow morning.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Begin tomorrow morning, on an auspicious day.

Prabhupāda: Ha.

Bhavānanda: Of course, you . . . Śrīla Prabhupāda, you've said when an auspicious thing comes along, it's best to act on it immediately.

Pañca-draviḍa: . . . (indistinct)

Bhavānanda: However, if you feel that you want to start in the morning . . .

Prabhupāda: You decide.

Trivikrama: You should take it now.

Pañca-draviḍa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Pañca-draviḍa: If something's auspicious, why wait for tomorrow?

Prabhupāda: So?

Bhakti-caru: Here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Bhakti-caru . . . (indistinct Bengali)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All right, we'll go and arrange, Śrīla Prabhupāda. (devotees chant japa) (break)

Prabhupāda: . . . (indistinct Bengali)

Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I'm going to take rest now.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Bhavānanda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: So, for giving the medicine, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa and Bhakti-caru in charge. Eh?

Bhavānanda: I think that's good.

Prabhupāda: Is that all right?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes.

Bhavānanda: (offers obeisances) Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Why in spoon? Why not take mortar and pestle?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He is making it in the mortar. Should you take it directly on the mortar?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Better, huh?

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Definitely better?

Prabhupāda: I think so.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. I'll just tell him.

Prabhupāda: I'll lick it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. That way every bit will be on your . . . okay. (break)

Prabhupāda: . . . round the temple.

Hari-śauri: Round our temple. Do you feel strong enough to be able to sit in that . . .

Prabhupāda: Strong or weak, it doesn't matter. You carry me, at least three times.

Hari-śauri: Yes. And darśana?

Prabhupāda: Hmm? And darśana also.

Hari-śauri: At 9:30 or 10:00.

Prabhupāda: Any time.

Hari-śauri: Just as before.

Prabhupāda: Any time. If by parikramā, even I die, that is good luck. Do you follow?

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Instead of dying on the road, jerking of train, aeroplane, why not here?

Hari-śauri: (chuckles) Vṛndāvana is the best place.

Prabhupāda: So arrange like that. It doesn't matter. Which leaves his time with kīrtana, even I may die or live, it does not matter.

Hari-śauri: For us it matters, Śrīla Prabhupāda. For us it matters.

Prabhupāda: That . . . no . . . what can be done? If Kṛṣṇa desires . . .

Hari-śauri: At least all the devotees will be very happy to chant for you whilst you go around. (pause) One of our men just died in Bhuvaneśvara.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Hari-śauri: One man, one of our men, he died in Bhuvaneśvara.

Prabhupāda: When?

Hari-śauri: We just got a telegram today from Bhāgavata.

Prabhupāda: Who is he?

Hari-śauri: He was an elderly Australian devotee, the man who was doing the architecture. You saw him in Bombay, that older man. He was about fifty-six.

Prabhupāda: In Bombay?

Hari-śauri: You saw him in Bombay last year. He had just done some drawings for the development of Bhuvaneśvara, and you asked him if he would like . . . oh, Haridaspur. At that time he was working on some plans for Haridaspur, and you asked him if he would like to stay there. He's . . . Bhāgavata put that he had died of some brain virus.

Prabhupāda: In Bhuvaneśvara?

Hari-śauri: Yes. That is part of Jagannātha Purī dhāma?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Hari-śauri: Is that a guarantee for going home, if someone leaves their body in the dhāma?

Prabhupāda: At least, he gets high standard of life for many years. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Find out in Bhagavad-gītā.

Hari-śauri: (pause) Prāpya puṇya-kṛtāṁ lokān (BG 6.41)?

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Hari-śauri:

uṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ

śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe

yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate

(BG 6.41)

Prabhupāda: Read the whole verse.

Hari-śauri: The English?

Prabhupāda: Or Sanskrit.

Hari-śauri: That was text 41. "The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people or into a family of rich aristocracy." Then the next verse:

athavā yoginām eva

kule bhavati dhīmatām

etad dhi durlabhataraṁ

loke janma yad īdṛśam

(BG 6.42)

"On taking such a birth . . . or he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists, who are surely great in wisdom. Verily, such a birth is rare in this world."

tatra taṁ buddhi-saṁyogaṁ

labhate paurva-dehikam

yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ

saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana

(BG 6.43)

"On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru." (break) . . . telegram came today. It didn't give the exact time, but it came from Bhuvaneśvara.

Prabhupāda: He was there?

Hari-śauri: Yes. He was working with Gaura-Govinda Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: He is . . . he was coming from Australia.

Hari-śauri: Yes. He was from Melbourne. He gave up his family when he was fifty-one and joined the temple, and then he came here to work with Saurabha.

Prabhupāda: Haṁsadūta?

Hari-śauri: Haṁsadūta Mahārāja?

Haṁsadūta: Yes, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: From tomorrow, you sit me down in that palanquin, and, with devotees, let me have parikramā, temple.

Haṁsadūta: Tomorrow.

Prabhupāda: Round the temple.

Haṁsadūta: What time?

Prabhupāda: Any time suitable.

Hari-śauri: Nine to ten, like we did before.

Haṁsadūta: All the devotees, have kīrtana.

Prabhupāda: How do you like this idea?

Haṁsadūta: Very good.

Prabhupāda: Instead of dying, train jerking (laughs) or aeroplane jerking, why not parikramā? Die or live, it doesn't matter.

Haṁsadūta: Parikramā is noble.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Either in palanquin or make a stretcher, but have parikramā.

Haṁsadūta: Yes, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Do you like this idea?

Haṁsadūta: Yes, I think it's a good idea.

Prabhupāda: So arrange like that with leading men. Let me have parikramā. If I live, that's all right; if I die, that's all right. Both ways. (pause)

Hari-śauri: Done, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No. Bharadvāja?

Bharadvāja: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: You have heard what I've have said?

Bharadvāja: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Do you like this idea? Hmm?

Bharadvāja: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: What is the harm?

Bharadvāja: All the devotees will love to see you.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. (end)